Fall 2006

Volusia manufacturers get spotlight with Corporate Guide, Outsourcing Directory

Corporate Guide Volusia 2006, the annual magazine published by the Volusia County
Department of Economic Development, this year spotlights medical manufacturing – a growing sector of the manufacturing landscape in Volusia County.

This year’s corporate magazine complements the recently completed Manufacturing Services Outsourcing Guide, a publication that focuses on the Volusia companies that qualify for military contracts.

“Our manufacturers are such an important component of our business portfolio, we are
focusing on their needs with these two publications,” said County Economic Development Director Rick Michael.

And a third of the manufacturing workers in Volusia County are engaged in medical manufacturing. “The variety of medical products manufactured locally and in use
globally is quite impressive,” said Doug Vimmerstedt, Special Projects Manager and demographic analyst for the Volusia County Department of Economic Development.

This year’s Corporate Guide Volusia, the fourth annual edition produced by the County, highlights the fact that the region is gaining notoriety as a hotbed for new and expanding medical companies. Products engineered and produced locally include disposable medical and surgical supplies, robotic pharmaceutical dosing systems, pacemaker components, and biohazard containment systems for military and public health applications.

A growing number of medical manufacturers are showing interest in the area and are finding the business climate in Volusia favorable, an observation not lost on manufacturers in urban areas of the Northeast and Midwest. The area’s colleges and universities that provide medical med-tech programs and training opportunities are a significant attraction, prospective medical companies have reported.

“For a community our size, we have extraordinary higher education resources,” said Dr. Trudie Kibbe Reed, president of Bethune-Cookman College and chair of the Volusia-Flagler Higher Education Consortium. The consortium strengthens bonds among member institutions and fosters economic prosperity by encouraging growth of medical manufacturing in the region. Member institutions include Bethune-Cookman
College, Stetson University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the University of Central Florida and Daytona Beach Community College. Several other colleges and universities have established presence in the area, many of which offer coursework in medical technologies.

The Advanced Technology Center, which features degree and certificate programs in technology-driven curricula, is proving to be a significant asset in the county’s pitch to potential new companies. The ATC is an innovative educational resource established by a partnership including Daytona Beach Community College, Volusia County Schools, Flagler County Schools and the business community.

The culture of technology at the ATC is enhanced by the Entrepreneurial Center, established by the Volusia County Department of Economic Development to incubate and encourage small, start-up technology companies. The center offers low-cost office space, business consultation and access to a fully-equipped machine shop, conference and training rooms, computer labs and Small Business Innovative Research grants.
Other essential resources include the Workforce Development Board Center for Business Excellence, and Daytona Beach Community College’s Center for Business and Industry. Both provide training programs and consultation. Also supporting the growth of medical manufacturing in the area is the Volusia Manufacturers Association.

“VMA monitors key legislation, compiles resource publications, supports education at all levels, enhances labor/management through industrial relations programs and is
an advocate for manufacturers,” said President Jayne Fifer.

These and other resources are covered in the current edition of Corporate Guide Volusia. The publication was created to provide a pro-business editorial medium through which economic development resources can be presented to locally-based companies and companies considering relocation to Central Florida. It is distributed to officials of these companies, site selection professionals, government officials and business media.

In recent years, the local economy benefited from the presence of nearly $150 million
annually in federal defense contracts. Much of this investment was in manufactured products. The largest of these benefactors was the former General Dynamics production facility at the DeLand Airport Industrial Park. General Dynamics accounted
for about $70 million a year in defense contracts which all but disappeared from the Volusia County economy when the company closed its facility in early 2005.

“One of several strategies developed by the department following the loss of General Dynamics was the creation of an Outsourcing Handbook,” said Phil Ehlinger, business assistance manager for the county Department of Economic Development. “We needed to identify area companies that possessed the manufacturing capability and capacity to
support subcontracting opportunities with other military and defense contractors. If our local companies were not going to be the primary benefactor of defense contracts, then we wanted to enhance their position and ability to be recognized as qualifying
subcontractors.”

More than 100 local manufacturers were visited to identify the companies possessing technical capability and the desire to participate in federal contracting or subcontracting opportunities. The Outsourcing Handbook features 30 of the community’s core manufacturers that meet or exceed federal contracting requirements.

More than 5,000 copies of the publication have been published and distributed in the past year to primary defense contractors and general manufacturing companies nationwide.

“The handbook has become an important part of the department’s resources that are distributed to hundreds of companies that we come into contact with through a series of industry trade shows,” Ehlinger said. “The handbook serves as a promotional guide as well as a business and labor recruitment resource.”

For a copy of these publications, contact the Volusia County Department of Economic Development at 386-248-8048 or go here.